Identification of Potent Leukocyte Common Antigen-Related Phosphatase Inhibitors via Structure-Based Virtual Screening

Abstract

Leukocyte common antigen-related phosphatase (LAP.) has been considered a promising target for the development of therapeutics for neurological diseases. Here, we report the first example for a successful application of the structure-based virtual screening to identify the novel small-molecule LAP. inhibitors. Five of these inhibitors revealed micromolar inhibitory activities with the associated IC50 values ranging from 2 to 6 mu M. Because the newly identified inhibitors were also screened for having desirable physicochemical properties as a drug candidate, they may serve as a starting point of the structure-activity relationship study to optimize the medical efficacy. Structural features relevant to the stabilization of the new inhibitors in the active site of LAR are discussed in detail.